5 Palo Alto eighth-graders suspended in swastika graffiti

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 20, 2006

(04-20) 14:56 PDT PALO ALTO -- Five eighth-graders have been suspended from Stanford Middle School after students and teachers arrived at school earlier this week to find a large swastika and the word "Columbine" spray-painted on the building.

The students are believed to have defaced the school over the weekend, said a staff member who declined to be named, adding that it took a few days to determine who might have been at fault. The staff member said school administrators were meeting this afternoon to discuss the incident.

Today is the seventh anniversary of the infamous Columbine High School massacre, in which two students in Littleton, Colo., went on a shooting rampage, killing 15 students and teachers and wounding 23.